Designers Anonymous

After two months of talk and preparation, Anonymous Federation commenced their first community-oriented meeting on January 19 at Chicago's SmartBar. The event, free to the public, attracted nearly 200 local designers and creative multi-media whizzes.

Spanning two hours, the convention included a presentation by acclaimed Brazilian designer Nando Costa of Digital Kitchen, the creative boutique responsible for the title credits of the HBO series 'Six Feet Under' and a Palm Pilot spot for San Francisco's AKQA agency.

"The point of [the meeting] was to mix, mingle, maybe drink beer and just enjoy yourself," said Anonymous Federation's Jake Nickell, 21.

"New York and San Francisco both have a strong sense of community," added fellow-Anonymous member Jeffrey Kalmikoff, 22. "People seem to network much easier there, it's almost like second nature. Chicago, on the other hand, has no design scene, so we decided it was time to create one ourselves."

Anonymous Federation, a group of designers and developers all under the age of 24, is composed of Kalmikoff of inFORMATION Design Lab, Charles Forman of setPixel Corporation, Nash Mewborn of GreenpointCollective, and Jacob DeHart and Jake Nickell both of skinnyCorp/Threadless.com.

The design-team quintet, having originally met just last December at a dinner organized by Kalmikoff, saw the void of community in Chicago's creative tech sector and sought to reverse the situation. They envisioned functions where colleagues could discuss design philosophy, collaborate on projects, disseminate theory and practice, and put a face on a screen name.

And according to Kalmikoff, "It all came together surprisingly easy." Kalmikoff, who's had experience throwing music events at the SmartBar, secured the space through Direction Tour Marketing's Micah Taylor and Todd Kasten, the event marketers for the venue.

Word then was dispersed through postings and e-mails to several major design portals and local-area interest groups. And on January 6, about two weeks before the meeting, the Anonymous Federation guys launched their website. The turnabout at the meeting met their expectation and the reception was enthusiastic.

"The people who came here were mostly strangers to me," admitted Forman, 21, also a member of Anonymous Federation. "I recognized many of their works, but not their faces. That's why this event was so interesting."

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